There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it ... however, if you don't have the time right now, you might find the following quick links helpful:
Last week we decided to apply a little political pressure by contacting our officials about Fracking, a dangerous method of extracting natural gas and oil. Hopefully, whether you chose to accept the challenge or not, you learned something about the practice.
The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the "green" word by writing an article about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments. Here's what they had to say:
From Argentum Vulgaris: Change the World Wednesday – 6th Feb.
From CelloMom: In case you missed a recent piece of news: Apart from toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, there is the risk of leaks, which can make natural gas have a climate footprint equal to that of coal. Since methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. http://www.cellomomcars.com/2013/01/is-energy-from-natural-gas-cleaner-than.html"
From Laura Simmons: "Wow that was a great deal of information. Every time I have tried to contact my representatives via email, the email have come back as "inbox full"."
From Catherine: " This is my first #CTWW challenge - I just signed and will blog about it soon! Fracking is something that needs to be questioned. I also hate that some friends use it as an excuse to not reduce their consumption/footprint, "oh it's OK, fracking means we can just keep going as usual". Grrr! Thanks for that great twitter list btw, I'll start following everyone I'm not already :) " Catherine wrote Wednesday…a good day to change the world!
Our Twitter friends joined the conversation ... here's what they had to say:
From @pinkladyapril
- Badly matched parcel size to contents. what a waste: https://twitter.com/pinkladyapril/status/299205980841988096/photo/1
From @givetreegifts
- Fracking...Risky Gas Drilling Threatens Health & Water Supplies: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/gasdrilling/
- Hydraulic Fracturing or "Fracking" "...they don’t have to disclose what chemicals they pump into our waterways."http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Energy-and-Climate/Drilling-and-Mining/Natural-Gas-Fracking.aspx
- Fracking Under Pressure: The Environmental and Social Impacts and Risks of Shale Gas Development: http://www.sustainalytics.com/fracking-under-pressure-environmental-and-social-impacts-and-risks-shale-gas-development
- It's on t.v. here right now. I've emailed our local representative & signed an online petition to ban this practice
The #CTWW Gang are those folks who share our challenges on twitter using the hashtag #CTWW. If you're a Twitter member, I highly recommend following them ... they have a lot of great things to say. Let's meet them:
Thanks, everyone! If you wrote an article, I have Stumbled, Tweeted, Facebooked and posted it on Google +. You can help spread the "green" word by using the share feature at the bottom of this post.
This Week's Challenge:
In June of 2012 we joined Mrs. Green in her "Use It Up" challenge. It's one of those activities which bears repeating from time to time because food has a sneaky way of accumulating in our homes. More importantly, food waste is at an all time high ... it's bad for our finances and bad for the environment. So, Mrs. Green is doing a Half Term Challenge and we're invited to join her. Here you go ...
- Take a look through your fruit, vegetables and fresh items in the fridge to see what needs using up. Write it all down – it’s easier to keep track that way.
- Plan some of your favorite meals around the foods that need using up.
- If you need inspiration, write your food list on Mrs. Green's post (you'll find it HERE) and her community will help or ... check out the recipes section at Love Food Hate Waste.
- Enjoy some great meals, knowing you are saving money and protecting resources.
Are you ready to tackle this one? I know that you are!
Until next time ...
WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!
Ooh - very timely challenge. I'm in the middle of a meat-free month challenge and my fridge contents are a little different to usual - things could quite easily get forgotten. My worst offenders are often half packets of cheeses - like feta - bought for specific recipes but I sometimes forget to use them up. I'm thinking a big old veggie pasta bake with an unloved half packet of goats cheese. Also have half a portion of curry paste begging to be used - great for a sweep of the fridge drawer I think:-)
ReplyDeleteCTWW is up and running on:
ReplyDeletehttp://ecocrap.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/change-the-world-wednesday-13th-feb/
All about our BBQ yesterday too.
AV
I finally joined in! Here's mine http://www.plus2point4.co.uk/2013/02/13/change-the-world-wednesday-use-it-up/
ReplyDeleteWhat a great challenge! Such a good way of cutting our individual footprints and enjoying lovely food along the way :). I've blogged about it http://lowimpactparenting.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/change-the-world-wednesday-use-it-up/
ReplyDeletelove this challenge! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh I definately need to do this, I have been working through the freezer since Christmas and still have more in there to make plenty of meals
ReplyDeleteI needed this challenge for sure because it's one I from time to time fail at. We accumulate food yet still go to the grocery store because there is 'nothing' good to eat. Then why did we buy it??? We have even gone out to eat AFTER grocery shopping either because it's late or worse, we don't feel like eating anything we just bought! Currently I am working on less excuses and making more meals from scratch. Not just a salad either ;) At least left overs is no longer an issue for my hubby who swore to not eat them. Being creative with all that is in the pantry for me is. Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteAnother great #CTWW challenge! My fridge is fine - I do strict menu planning and because the fridge is suitably bare by the end of each Friday, it's easy to see if I missed anything.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my deep freeze could definitely do with some inspection. It's been more than 3 months since my last rummage / clean out, so that's a task for this weekend. Plus I think a freezer check-up will be a good thing to schedule regularly.
Here's a video with 4 quick tips for avoiding food waste
http://youtu.be/lAu4NuardD4
and I've done an article on Food Storage which helps to avoid waste http://www.ecofriendlylink.com/blog/foodstorageproductstheeco-friendlyway
every Thursday for dinner we have soup...from all the left overs the past week...the soup is always yummy and always different... and no waste!
ReplyDeleteOh I love this challenge! We have cabbage, carrots, celery and turnips in the crisper. I am pulling it all out and adding some of my homemade veggie broth along with some onions and potatoes and making a veggie stew.This is a wonderful challenge and a great way to make use of vegetables before they go bad. We also had some overripe bananas and I made some healthy banana muffins and then peeled and froze the rest of them to use for ice cream.
ReplyDeleteGreat challenge and just in time! I've had a leek in my fridge for 3+ weeks now and it's going in the compost. I also had to compost a pumpkin and some kale. So sad! I will do better!
ReplyDeleteI actually managed to blog about this challenge!! Here's how it went:
ReplyDeletehttp://bikelightsinthefruitbowl.typepad.com/blog/2013/02/meat-free-2.html
Thanks so much for the jumpstart that I needed!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crazy4green.com/2013/02/challenge-cook-from-scratch-and-choose.html
What a great challenge! One way we've made meeting it easier is to use a new Silicon Steamer Pan for cooking veggies.
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly doing anything for this challenge, but put it on my blog anyway. ha! Trying to get back in the game
ReplyDeletehttp://outwardlypleasant.blogspot.com/2013/02/ctww-half-term-challenge.html
Totally needed this one. And I'm still working on it.... Here is what I made: http://thegreeningofwestford.blogspot.com/2013/02/from-food-waste-to-fried-rice.html
ReplyDelete